


#50 As Near As Now

by midnightflame



Category: Naruto
Genre: Aftermath, Implied Relationships, M/M, That want you never knew was there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-02
Packaged: 2018-01-17 21:28:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1403044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightflame/pseuds/midnightflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sasuke had entered the battlefield, there had been a moment – one bitter and fragile moment – when Naruto wondered if all was just about to be lost.</p>
            </blockquote>





	#50 As Near As Now

It ended as any war would. There were those called victor, those declared the defeated, and somehow in the mess of bodies across the field, peace resurrected. Makeshift tents sprung up across the margins of the battlefield, and to them, they returned. Others loitered about campfires, some silent as meals were made, others tumbling right into conversation. Talking about home, of all the things left behind and happily returned to. Now that all was said and done.

The aftermath and its resolution would be left to those who still stood at the top of it all – their beloved kages and those mantled with _hero_.

It was the last thing Naruto was concerned about to be honest. Because for one brilliant span, everything had been as he had hoped. When Sasuke had entered the battlefield, there had been a moment – one bitter and fragile moment – when Naruto wondered if all was just about to be lost. His friends, the ninja coalition pinched between one enemy and now another, and himself utterly drained.

…And then there had been his father.

Naruto sunk into the cot of his tent, grateful for the quiet that enveloped him for once. Head fell into his awaiting hands; fingers dug into dirt-stained blond.

But that hadn’t been what stilled his heart in that moment.

_If this is what my brother had wanted…_

“Sasuke…”

It was an odd sort of realization. To see the very thing you had fought so hard for, that one thing you had wanted so badly appear…and know that you had done nothing to bring it about. Perhaps that wasn’t fair. He had tried – again and again – to bring Sasuke home, to make him see what was right in all the devastation that had befallen their lives. And yet, in the moment when he had been called away from all of that to defend that very thing worth fighting for, that right he had argued so hard for, believed so desperately in…

Maybe he never could have been the one to bring him back. Naruto couldn’t quite shake the thought that it could have been Sasuke standing off against him in those last moments, and that his death might have been the imminent one. A breath shy of all he had ever hoped to achieve.

A tremor ran through his figure. He closed his eyes, willing the sounds of the camp unfolding around him to dissipate.

_Breathe_ , Kurama murmured.

The exhale came heavy, and with it, the uprising of panic subsided.

From the opposite end of the tent, Naruto heard the cloth rustle as a body pushed itself through the flaps. His head remained against his palms, eyes held onto their darkness for a moment longer.

“I’ve already had my injuries looked at…”

Silence.

His mouth tightened against his hand. He had known Sakura had been worried about him, but right now, she was needed elsewhere. Not here in this tent with him when he was fine.

Just. Fine.

“I get it. I know you’re all concerned about me really, Sak –“ Everything jarred to a halt as Naruto lifted his head, opened his eyes, and realized in one quick cut of a second that he had been wrong. So very, very wrong.

_Sasuke_.

He swallowed hard. His hands, now deprived of their burden, shook against his legs. Naruto felt the corner of his mouth curve, the gesture unfamiliar in its wryness. Not quite a smile, but hardly a smirk. Some odd mess that didn’t quite know what it wanted to be, and through it all, Sasuke simply stared at him. Wordless and unreadable.

Gods, he really hated that bastard sometimes.

But right now…right now…

“They patched you up, huh?” The flick of a wrist, fingers scaling the air before Sasuke. He was stripped to the waist, bandages binding limbs and torso. So, the asshole really did get himself beat-up for them all…

“Karin took care of it.”

“Did she…”

“Aa…”

Silence bit at him again. Naruto lifted a hand and rubbed at the back of his neck. What now? There were a million different questions screaming in his head to be asked. _Why did it take you so long? What made you change your mind? Why was my dad with you?_

“…Are you staying?”

That wasn’t the one he had wanted to start with, and yet Naruto couldn’t tell himself it wasn’t the one burning hottest on his tongue. Sasuke blinked at him. Apparently, he wasn’t expecting that one either. Not at first. Naruto watched as Sasuke’s mouth pulled to a faint line, words locked behind it.

“All this time, you know…I just…I didn’t care how really. Not if it meant…”

Ah, what was with him now…Afraid that Sasuke would just turn and leave him again?

Naruto gave a muted laugh, head dropping. How pathetic.

“I never stopped thinking…”

Voice caught, words chipped by emotions he knew he had never quite rid himself of. Naruto let his head fall even lower, not really caring if Sasuke saw the tears collecting along his lashes but somehow unable to bring himself to face it.

Just as he was about to fall into another ramble, Sasuke moved. There were no sounds to accompany it, but Naruto could feel it. That shift of muscle, the air singed with intention. The minute Sasuke stood before him, Naruto no longer thought. Hands reached out. Fingertips tentatively brushed against the hem of pants, skimmed light with disbelief over skin. They paused as they ran over the smooth-line of a new scar.

Everything they had suffered…

His forehead briefly touched to Sasuke’s stomach. The silence held around them. Again, Naruto felt his body shudder only to be stilled as Sasuke’s hands laid light upon his shoulders. Eyes fell shut as fingers glanced against his chin and with it, the warmth of tears trailed over his cheeks.

Honestly, how wretchedly pathetic was he…

But he had hoped. Even as the world fell to war, and friends and allies were brought to their knees before it, he had hoped. Because they would win and after that, he would find Sasuke and they would come back to everything that this life had nearly cost them. And somehow, in the midst of it all, Sasuke had found him instead.

Naruto tipped his head upwards, gaze bright amidst the tears. Sasuke was so close. Smelling of sweat and blood and salves. Warm beneath his hands and so damnably steady.

“You’re really back, aren’t you?”

Sasuke dipped his head. A smirk, wry but not unwelcoming on his lips.

“…You never know when to shut up.”


End file.
